OK, I know I spend most of my time modelling, but I was determined over the holiday to model just for me, no commercial interest, or demonstrating how to for others.

Have been wanting to try 1:12 scale for a long time, so I set to and made a start. As I don't have much space to spare, it had to be small, so 7¼" gauge is a better option than 15" gauge for me.

First up a simple small flat wagon, just to get a feel for it. Not wanting to spend too much time, I looked for short cuts. The longest part normally for building a wagon is getting the axleboxes made and set up, so I cheated and built around an existing Sidelines chassis. I think it works out quite well, here's a few pics.

From the underside, it is more obvious how the chassis fits into place, helped by the different colour.

With the wagon done, thoughts turned to something to move it around. No prizes for guessing the power unit, the Bachmann Streetcar/Trolley was the obvious choice, due to it's reliability and not least the decent sized wheels. This was going to be a real quicky, but as I got into it, I started taking more care than intended, so I didn't get as far as hoped. At least I got the underframe finished, which always seems to take the longest, so I can show that.

And underneath showing how neatly the Bachmann unit fits in place.

Hopefully I can get the upper part done over a few evenings, nothing too complex and probably in a similar style to my Gnine kits.

To give a sense of how small these are in 1:12 scale, here we go with a couple of figures.

For anyone interested, the loco is 100mm long and the wagon 80mm, both being 50mm wide, so not much bigger than Gn15, except in height

I'm still thinking about the couplings. I do have some scale Heywood couplings from Back2Bay6, but I also have some ideas for magnetically operated ones which might be more useful on a small layout, we shall see .

So there you go, thats how I spent some of my extended weekend, sad isn't it?

Some progress was made last night. The basic components of the body are all made and I can now get on with adding the detail. I think this is where I'm going to struggle due to the size of things. Odds and ends that I might normally use, all seem way too small in this scale, it's fun though looking through the scrapbox to see what will work

Anyway, you can see the very basic shape now.

And to give a sense of how small it would be in real life, with a figure onboard and the little wagon.

Time for a progress report. Things have moved on and apart from some final detailing, not far off being ready for the paintshop. Still need to work out what I'm going to do with couplings, so have fixed some G scale ones on temporarily, a bit small but don't look too out of place.

The cab details are a bit sparse, but there is not much room once the figure is onboard, even now, it is difficult to get him in and out.

I do have a Back2Bay6 figure which is a bit more compact and might yet get used, but I do like Rob Bennetts Busy Bodies character.

Still plenty of space under the seat to have a play with, but that might have to wait for now.

Quite a few questions which I will try and answer. Starting with the louvres on the side of the hood, they are a cheat and are solid made up of a triangular section, there is no gap under them, that is just shadow.

As for the details, most are bodged and soldered from an assortment of bits, it helps to never throw anything away. This shows some of them.

Starting from the left, the brake handle is formed from an unknown model boat turning, a bit of brass rod and some Evergreen tube turned to shape in a minidrill for the knob.

Next up the throttle handle, the top of a brass railing stanchion from the model boat world again (Billings Boats I think), plus another bit of brass rod and a bit of insulation from electrical wire (not shown).

The handles on the side of the hood, are industrial staples used in book binding, ¾" long

The radiator cap is a decorative picture hanging nail. These come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, well worth having a selection in the parts box.

Lastly, an eye pin used for the decompression lever on the front.
Not shown here is the spigot for the starter handle, which is again, just brass rod filed to shape. I'm not totally happy with this and might have another go, it's only a push fit, so will be easy to replace.

Not really made much progress, but I guess a couple of pics wont hurt.

The wagon has had a quick lick of paint (painting the wheels rusty was a waste of time) and some junk made up to go under the seat of the loco.

And once installed under the seat. I'm not sure yet if they will get used here, as once the figure is in position they can not really be seen, so I might just go for a battery under there and use these elsewhere.

One thing that has been delaying progress, is the question of what to do about couplers. As some will have noted from my previous comments, I wanted hands free operation if possible, so a lot of thought has gone into this part. Well, I think I came up with a solution, which will also enable more conventional link and pin operation if needed.

The answer I came up with, was a coupler pocket that could accept different coupler types. Nothing new here really, the idea has been in use for a long time, even on the real thing, just the application is a bit different.

OK, here are the component parts.

Mounted in the coupler pocket, is the delayed action coupler, based on a DG/Bemo shape, which uncouples magnetically.

On the ground in front are the various parts. On the left, a simple block to use as a centre buffer type with a loop fitting over the pin.
In the centre, the coupler pocket with the Eye Pin used to retain the coupler and on the right, the delayed action type again.

Next a photo with the central buffer mounted in the pocket.

A couple of side on shots next, first the delayed action type, which shows the loop and dropper used to uncouple it, that fits on one end of the wagon only. The other end has the same coupler, but without the loop and dropper.

And the centre buffer type, which would be fitted both ends.

Finally, one further option. By removing the couplers, a loop, or bar can be used as a conventional link and pin.

So there we are, a multi functional coupler pocket which should just about cover my needs in 1:12 scale.

I have had several questions about the diorama base with the portable type track that has appeared a few times in this thread. I thought I had posted about it before, but on searching the forum, it seems I only linked to a photo sequence of its construction.

Unfortunately, Photobucket shows the pics in reverse order, but if you click on the slideshow, there is the option to view in reverse order. So for those that missed it first time, Here is the link again:

One day I will get around to trying it, even have longer sleepers ready to give it a go.

If I wasn't trying to build this fairly quickly, I would probably have put a point in. I did try with Peco ones, but they were too long and would have messed up what this module is for (testing the couplings). Guess I will have to build another, what a chore.

Slow progress on the module, but tonight saw the completion of one of the key elements. Thanks to Brumrob for the inspiration on his Simplicity clone, this fits a dual role of masking the exit to a cassette to take the train off scene, but also when the cassette is not in use, which will be most of the time, it provides somewhere for the loco to hide.

I'm not a big fan of flash for photography, but it did have a bonus effect here, the light catches on the nails used to hold the fence together.

OK, not real nails and the fence is stuck together with glue, but the effect of a few pieces of wire is quite effective and more subtle than seen here.
Guess I had better stop playing though, only 10 days to get this thing presentable for it's first public showing.

Just a sneek preview. I did manage to get the diorama to a presentable stage to take to the show tomorrow, just hope all the glue dries before I leave. At least it will gve me something to work on over the two days.

The diorama was pretty well received, though I think a few thought I was more Gnuts than I normally am. It didn't get run much over the weekend, it's main task was to have somewhere to put some of the paper plants which I was demonstrating making, you can only fit so many on the lids of coffee jars. Anyway, I did take a few snaps, so here we go with a couple of overall shots.

A view of the loco and wagon.

Not quite a before and after, but now it has a few plants along the front.

And finally before I collapse in a heap, a couple of the infamous coffee jar lids sporting the paper plants.

I thought I would have one last go at producing an oil drum from the cardboard tube in the middle of a toilet roll. Gave me something to do while waiting for something to happen on the TV.

Below, the Mark 1 version on the left with the new improved super duper Mark 2 on the right.

In order to cover the diagonal joins of the paper on the tube, a covering of plain paper was glued to the tube first. Then the bands of cotton thread were added and these in turn covered by a thin strip of paper.
There is still a hint of the diagonal, but you cant see it really unless looking for it.

Before painting on the second version, the paper covering was treated with thin superglue, which makes it really hard, almost like plastic. Then a coat of matte black from an aerosol as a base coat before applying the rust finish, which I obtained from Back2Bay6. Once dry, a thin wash of poster paint was applied to bring a little more texture out, the one on the left had a wash of Burnt Sienna, while the one on the right, a wash of Raw Umber.

So thats it, a really satisfying little project, which is I guess partly due to the cost of materials, it's also nice to be able to get something useful from a bit of discarded rubbish.

In my rush to get the diorama ready for the show the other week, I didn't have as much time as I wanted to paint the figures. The standing one from Back2Bay6 in paticular, I would have liked to spend a bit more time on, with the eyes being one area that I was far from happy with.

The eyes on this figure are really quite large and the eyeball does seem to stick out a bit far. Using the method that I normally use in smaller scales of just a black dot for the iris, produced a good depiction of "Gollum" from Lord Of The Rings as this pic shows.

My plan was to come back to him, drill the eyes out and remodel them with filler. That was until I was reminded of the video's on youtube by Creager Studios that have been mentioned in other threads. After watching Jodi Creager's methods, I thought I would give them a go last night. Much to my surprise, I think I managed to make a big improvement to his appearance, still looks a bit bug eyed, but for now, I think he is safe from taking a drill to him.

Not perfect by any means and I might tone the eyes down a little more yet, but it will do for now.

As promised, a couple of pics of the latest wagon under construction.
Still all the details to add, though I might start again, this one hasn't been touched for weeks and some new ideas have come to mind. Will probably still finish it though and it can sit in the cupboard with the rest of the bits that never get used.

One more pic. I thought it made an interesting size comparison with the 15" wagon chassis from Back2Bay6. Useful reminder for me that I don't have the space for a 32mm gauge layout and to stick to what I know.

Could you please put a 1:12 figure beside, to give it a bit better sense of scale. Now it looks very close to Gn15.

It is quite a bit bigger than I would use in Gn15. The Back2Bay6 chassis is a scaled up version of one of my Gn15 cars, so my car falls in between the two really. It is 50mm wide, 80mm long and the top is 40mm from rail height, so quite big for 7¼" gauge and it would make a large Gn15 car.